Alessandro Zoino from Deutsche Bank is our Fund Selector of the Month

Alessandro Zoino holds the Vice President role at Deutsche Bank in London, where he leads Discretionary Portfolio Management and chairs the UK Investment Committee. Prior to that, he worked at Eurizon in Luxembourg and Tata in Budapest in portfolio management roles. He started his career as a researcher at the Yonsei School of Business in Seoul and at the University of Basel. He holds degrees in Economics from Federico II University of Naples, he is a CFA charter holder as well as an active member of the UK Society and an author of three publications.

When and how did you start your career in the financial sector?

I started as a Research Fellow at the Yonsei School of Business in Seoul and then I was a Visiting Researcher at the University of Basel as initially I wanted to pursue an academic career. Then I’d say I started my career in the financial sector 10 years ago when I joined Tata in Budapest as a financial analyst. After that, I moved to Luxembourg to work for Eurizon (Intesa Sanpaolo) in portfolio management and I became responsible for multi-asset portfolios and structured products. After a few years, I joined Discretionary Portfolio Management at Deutsche Bank, first in Luxembourg, and in 2021 I moved to London within the bank. I am now leading Discretionary Portfolio Management and chairing the UK Investment Committee.

What does a typical workday look like for you?

The day starts relatively early as London is part of the broader European team and we are one hour behind it usually starts with a markets/portfolios recap. Every day is a different day in Discretionary Portfolio Management as we manage portfolios (from the investment idea generation to the investment committee discussion and from the decision-making to trading), actively monitor markets, macroeconomic releases, and monetary policy events as well as interact with clients and prospects.

What aspects do you consider most important when selecting a fund for a portfolio?

We usually look at management style, benchmark, and macro/sector breakdown as depending on the trade rationale we may select/drop funds. Then, we examine track record and stats such as Sharpe Ratio or volatility, which are definitely part of the equation that defines the buy/sell decision.

What was the biggest challenge you faced as a selector?

We recently made most of our standard strategies ESG compliant and, despite being a strong advocate of ESG (I also contributed to a paper published by CFA earlier this year), I found it quite challenging to find ESG-compliant instruments that would fit our purpose. Some asset classes are by definition very challenging to invest in from an ESG perspective (e.g. emerging market debt in hard currency) but I believe having an ESG tilt should add value over the long term.

When you have free time, what do you like to do?

My biggest passions are sailing and painting. I grew up by the sea in Italy and sailing has always been part of my life. Painting is something I discovered recently, I’ve always loved art and in particular Caravaggio, so three years ago I started painting with my father (who is much more talented than me) and we will have our first exhibition in London later this year.